An antique lead coffin discovered in Évreux (Eure): a multidisciplinary study

The Roman cemetery of le Clos au Duc in Évreux (Eure) lasted from the 1st to the 4th c. AD. The most common funerary practice in the 1st c. AD was cremation. From the beginning of the 2nd c. AD this rapidly gave place to inhumation burials. By the end of the 3rd c. lead coffins could be found in burials, but it remained a minority practice reserved for an elite. The 2010 excavation in Évreux allowed the recovery of an example of these. It was incomplete, but the good preservation of its remains made a multidisciplinary study possible. Apart from the bones of a young woman, the lead coffin contained coins, textile, fur, calcite (CaCO3) and insects. These results make it possible to retrace t…